² For a résumé of the history of the island at the period in question see Frangoulas, I., Σκιαθικά, A (1978), 73–6Google Scholar. Testimonia are collected in IG xii. 8, pp. 166–8.

³ Boehlau, J., Aus ionischen und unteritalischen Nekropolen (Leipzig, 1898), 152–4Google Scholar, pl. 1; Kurtz, D. C. and Boardman, J., Greek Burial Customs (London, 1971), 235–6Google Scholar (erroneously stating that Samian block monuments are not inscribed; see examples cited by Evangelidis, Arch.Eph. 1924, 83–4, including Boehlau pl. 1, 8). The block form is not, however, clearly attested on Samos before the end of the archaic period.

⁴ A test case for the possibility might be IG I³ 1242 (= Hansen, P. A., Carmina Epigraphica Graeca saec. VIII–V a.Chr.n. (Berlin, 1983), no. 31Google Scholar), though doubts over the interpretation of the final line (see IG and Delmousou, D., A. Delt. 26 (1977 [1984])Google Scholar, B 5) would allow the name of the dead to be placed in the lost first four feet of line 1.

⁵ Hansen (n. 4) only cites one example of σοί at the beginning of a verse (no. 190 = IG i³ 608—a dedication), but a vocative is virtually immediately present. Certainly it can be stated that ξεîνε cannot be read in line 1.

⁶ There is scarcely any ‘rule’ to follow, though the rhythm of the line supports the version that I print; we might note that one contemporary cutter is likely, judging from space available, to have inscribed both epsilons in this phrase, even perhaps with punctuation in between (Hansen (n. 4) no. 234, IG i³ 776).

⁷ For the Chalkidian origin of the inhabitants, arguably of the early historical period, see Frangoulas (n. 2) n. 1. The probability is heavily underscored by the presence of Euboian pottery at the site of Kephala in the north-east of the island (Sampson, N., ῾Η Σκὶαθος ἀπὸ προϊστορικοὺς ζρὸνους μὲχρι τω̑ν ἀρχω̑ν του 20 ου αἰω̄νος (Athens, 1977), 21–3Google Scholar).

⁸ The forms are clearly earlier than those of the dedication of Hegesandros, the most readily dated of Samian early Classical texts (c.460–55 BC; LSAG ² 342, no. 21 and Dunst, G., AM 87 (1972), 152–3Google Scholar. Considerations as those outlined would suggest a substantially earlier absolute date for our text.

⁹ See Hansen (n. 4) nos. 32 (= IG I³ 1266) and 458; also used by Theognis 284.

¹⁰ Jones, N. F., Public Organisation in Ancient Greece (Philadelphia, 1987), 200Google Scholar, with earlier bibliography; Shipley, G., A History of Samos, 800–188 BC (Oxford, 1987), 285Google Scholar; some more general thoughts by Hansen, M. H., in More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis (Historia Einzelschr. 108), 170–1Google Scholar. It is striking that a little later the same name is found attached to a phratry, in the treaty between Knossos and Tylissos, 1. 45; see Jones, 116 with bibliography, esp. Wörrle, M., Untersuchungen zur Verfassungsgeschichte von Argos im 5. Jht. vor Chr. (Inaugural Dissertation Erlangen Nürnberg, 1964,) 17Google Scholar.

¹¹ Fraser, P. M. and Matthews, E. (eds.), A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names I (Oxford, 1987Google Scholar), s.v.

¹² Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque II (Paris, 1968Google Scholar), s.v. πέλλα. Parallels for the collocation of vowels are rare: one can cite Θρυήσιος as a tribal name on Tenos, Étienne, R., Ténos et les Cyclades, du milieu du IV^e siècle av. J.-C. au milieu du III^e siècle ap.J.-C. (Ténos II, Paris, 1990), 29, 119Google Scholar.

¹³ The ‘pre-Greek’ nature of the personal names in -σ(σ)ιος may be noted, in conjunction with the probably non-Greek roo πελ-.

¹⁴ Stelai in Poligiro Museum, Romiopoulou, K., AAA 7 (1974), 190–8Google Scholar. They are not mentioned by Hansen, M. H. in his lists of Attic citizens buried abroad, AJAH 7 (1982), 187–8Google Scholar and More Studies (n. 10), 177, n. 53.

¹⁵ As Shipley (n. 10), 285 points out there do exist some examples of the usage on Samos, if later. One suspects that it is statistical chance that denies us earlier examples from the island.